Collins marches in gay pride parade

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NBA veteran center Jason Collins, the first active athlete in one of the four U.S. major professional sports leagues to come out as being gay, marched Saturday for nearly three miles in Boston's gay pride parade with U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, his onetime roommate at Stanford University.

Collins wore a T-shirt that read "#BeTrue" when he joined thousands of marchers in the parade, chatting with well-wishers, greeting other marchers and holding babies as people came up to him to express their support.

The parade also featured former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank  the first sitting member of Congress to enter into a same-sex marriage  who also represented Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District before Kennedy. U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate seeking the seat once held by John Kerry, who stepped down to become secretary of state, also marched.

In coming out as gay in April, Collins wrote in an article for Sports Illustrated that his decision to go public came when Kennedy marched in last year's parade and Collins didn't feel that he could join him.

He also said the Boston Marathon bombing reinforced the notion that things can change in an instant, so he might as well live truthfully.

ARTICLE PHOTO GALLERY

Go Gators

The last time Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller and Matt Bonner all went to a championship round together, none of them got a title.

At least one of them will this time around.

Haslem, Miller and Bonner all played for Florida in 1999-2000, the season where the Gators went to the NCAA championship game and lost to Michigan State. That was Miller's final collegiate game; Haslem and Bonner played together with the Gators for two more seasons.

Haslem is a fan favorite in Miami for one obvious reason  it's his hometown. And Miller has been embraced by Miami fans since his first game with the Heat, surely on some level because of his ties to the Gators.

A handful of fans in Miami were directing Florida's trademark "chomp" toward Bonner before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, a sure sign that Gator diehards are still thankful for what the San Antonio reserve forward did while wearing the orange and blue.

"Anytime we play here and Orlando, there's always a small Gator faction that even though I'm on the opposing team will give me a subtle 'Go Gators' or a Gator chomp, for sure," Bonner said. "I think they just don't want the home team to see them cheering for someone on the opposing team."

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